A Summer Place
by deal-with-it
Summary: After Chizuru was dragged into his problems, Kenji vows revenge, but runs into his father’s old friend. MisaoKenji pairing. ON HOLD!


**Disclaimer**: I no own Kenshin and company, nor do I own the song title, A Summer Place, by The Letterman, and other songs to come.

OOOOOO

**SPOILER WARNING! SEISHOUHEN DIRECTOR'S CUT SPOILERS! JINCHUU ARC RUROUNI KENSHIN SPOILERS!**

**Rated R for**: language, violence, and suggestive material.

**Genre**: Humor, Angst, Romance

**Alternate pairing**: Misao and Kenji. If you do not like this coupling, you do not have to read this story. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and if you would like to express it, please do so in an adult-like manner.

**Summary**: After Chizuru was dragged into his problems, Kenji vows revenge, but runs into his father's old friend. Misao is then dragged into the never-ending problems with Kenji, as he tries fight his way out of his father's shadow. Yet another problem arrives between them: Attraction.

OOOOOOO

**A Summer Place**

_Chapter 1: "A Summer Song"_

_"There's a summer place _

_Where it may rain or storm..."_

_--The Letterman, A Summer Place_

The air was still as the sun's light descended to the earth, heating it unmercifully. The wind scarcely came by to cool the two, lone travelers as they passed through the thick foliage; the locus above them, hidden in the trees, screeched their Summer Song.

Kenji sighed, pushing the bush back as much as possible to allow him and Chizuru passage access.

Two years had passed since him and his fiancée, Chizuru, left Tokyo. Kenji often wondered how the dojo was doing. He did, after all, abandon the place after his parents' passing, allowing Yahiko, his wife, Tsubame, and their son, Shinya, to live there during his absence.

Without knowing where else to go, he wandered, with Chizuru in tow.

Kenji used the clothed sakabatou to push another vine out of their path, hearing his fiancée panting from the humidity.

"Tired, Chizuru?" Kenji asked, looking behind him to see her wipe away some perspiration off her forehead.

"Iie; it's just hot." Chizuru lied, giving a smile, not wanting Kenji to know that her feet were aching, and it was getting harder to breathe because of the damn humidity.

Kenji raised a skeptical eyebrow, knowing Chizuru hated to admit when she was in need of anything. She was proud, to the point of stubbornness. Yet Kenji loved that quality in her.

Chizuru was a very bold young woman, never thinking twice to defend others when it came to justice and righteousness. Kenji always laughed to himself when he saw her eyes narrow in defiance when some idiot told her she could not do something.

Chizuru also went out of her way to prove that person wrong.

Kenji finally came to a clearing; the sound of a rushing river was like sweet music to, not only his ears, but Chizuru's as well.

Their eyes looked at the crystal clear water flowing lazily onward; the thought of the rich cool water on their lips made their mouths even more dry than they already were.

It had been a good many hours since they ran out of water, and Kenji was the thirstiest because he gave his share to Chizuru.

Quickly looking around to make sure they were alone, Kenji dropped his possessions on the soft, green grass bank.

"We'll rest here for a while." He announced, dropping to his knees before the river; he cupped his hands in the ice cold water, and he brought it to his lips, drinking it in as much as he could as the rest dripped away from him.

Kenji did not miss the relieved sigh that Chizuru made as she placed her possessions on the grass as well. She, too, dropped to her knees by the river bed, took out her water container and filled it; she then proceeded to drink from it after she filled the container to satisfaction.

"Can't we just spend the night here, Kenji-kun?" Chizuru asked, pouring water on the top of her head to wash away the stickiness on her hair and face.

"It gets cold near a river bed at night," Kenji replied, cupping his hands together to get some more water, and then splashed it on his face, reviling in the coolness it gave him. "And it's still midday; we can still make some more miles."

"In this heat, I don't mind being cold at night." Chizuru retorted, gulping water from her container, and then folding her arms in a cute pout.

Kenji gave Chizuru a warm smile; his normally cold blue eyes softened into warm hues. He turned back to the cold water to drink some more, trying to ignore the fact that his fiancée has the ability to make him go soft; he would give her the world if she asked for it.

_Are all fiancées able to do that?_ Kenji wondered, casting a sideways glance at Chizuru as she waved the heat off her face with her small hand. _If something were to happen to her, would I fall in love with another after time goes by?_

Chizuru felt Kenji staring at her, so she turned to look back at him, his expression very thoughtful.

"Nani desu ka?" Chizuru asked, her head tilting to the side slightly in curiosity.

"Bitsuni." Kenji replied in a whisper, his smile back on his face while Chizuru pursed her lips and frowned.

_I don't want any other_. Kenji thought to himself, not wanting to say these words to his companion, even though he knew he should. _I just want Chizuru._

"What do you mean 'nothing!'" Chizuru demanded, placing her hands on her hips as she scowled down at him.

Kenji just laughed, shaking his head.

"We'll rest here for the night; I think you deserve a break." He stated, winking at her.

Chizuru, in joyous bliss, meant to just hug Kenji, but ended up tackling him instead. They rolled over the green grass bank, laughing and wrestling with each other.

Finally, Kenji pinned Chizuru to the ground, holding her wrists above her head, and holding her body down with his own body weight, his hips strattling her own.

Chizuru, still struggling to get her wrists back from Kenji's grip, did not realize how wrong the scene was; Kenji above her in a very intimate position, and their faces very close to touching.

Only Kenji realized how wrong it would look to anyone who did not know the situation. That caused him to wonder what his parents would have said if they walked into this scene.

More than likely, his father would be flustered, and the only thing he would be able to say would be "Oro!"

His mother, however, would be screeching in fury, giving Kenji the lecture of his life about waiting until marriage.

His parents' friends would be complementing him, and Yahiko would most likely say something smart like, "Just like Kenshin!" or "Like father, like son!"

Chaos would engulf them; his mother would be yelling at Yahiko, while trying to yell at Kenji at the same time. Yahiko would be trying to justify his statements while making the situation even worse. His father would be oro-ing like an idiot, while he and Chizuru would be struggling to explain that all of them have the situation wrong.

Kenji laughed to himself; the whole scene playing out in his mind.

"Nani?" Chizuru asked, bringing him back to reality.

"Oh, just… thinking." Kenji replied, looking at the young woman under him as she looked up to him with her wide brown eyes.

"Kenji-kun…" Chizuru whispered, her eyes fluttering.

Kenji released his grip on Chizuru's wrists, and he softly moved his hands down her arms to cup her face gently in his hands. She was so small, despite being a few inches shorter than him.

He brushed his lips across her lips as they moved their arms to hold each other. Kenji reveled in the softness of Chizuru's lips, drowning in the sweet taste of her mouth as he slipped his tongue slowly in her mouth to taste her again.

She smelled like vanilla; like she was born from vanilla trees, out of their vanilla flowers. It was like she bathed in vanilla, and slept on a bed that smelled like vanilla.

Chizuru also tasted sweet, the way vanilla does, and her skin was milky-soft, and white the way vanilla is.

Kenji groaned in her mouth, her whole being consuming him like his soul was bathing in vanilla. His hand roamed her body, coming to her gi, wanting to drown in said vanilla; wanting to feel her naked body against his once again.

"Kenji-kun!" Chizuru said when she pulled her mouth away from him, her eyes wide, and a cute tint of pink stained her cheeks. "Not here in the forest!"

Kenji blinked at his fiancée, her coal-black hair splayed out above her like a black cloak. She also looked that way one night when they spent the night in an inn at a small town.

The inn keeper was suspicious of them, but Kenji calmly explained that Chizuru was his wife so that they would not be turned away and damned out of the town.

They had enough money for one night, and they both knew an inn was a luxury to them, but for completing one hundred miles, the couple treated themselves.

Chizuru was nervous about sleeping in the same room together, and Kenji inquired it.

"What's wrong?" Kenji inquired softly, as if the inn keeper was pressing her ugly face to the wall to hear their conversation. "It's no different if we were sleeping together in the woods."

"Demo… it's the fact that we're **alone** together in a **room**!" Chizuru explained, her hands shifting nervously together. "And you said that I'm your** wife**."

Kenji decided right there to give up trying to understand women because he could not understand what Chizuru was so flustered about.

"You didn't like it when I said you're my wife?" Kenji asked, his eyebrows frowned in confusion.

"Iie, I liked that, and I was very flattered because you could've said we're siblings, but… we have a **married couple's room** with **married couple's futons**!"

"So you don't want to do what married couples do?" Kenji asked innocently, not knowing what Chizuru was talking about.

Chizuru screeched, and threw a futon pillow at him, causing an unwilling "Oro!" to escape from his mouth. She then proceeded to yell at him, until he pinned her to the futon, his lips pressing against her lips.

"Chizuru, you're hurting my ears." Kenji stated, as if explaining why he kissed her.

Chizuru began to yell at Kenji again, and he kissed her again, this time meaning it to be something.

"Chizuru, do you want to be my wife?" Kenji asked, looking down at her with soft blue eyes.

Her coal-black hair splayed out above her like a black cloak, and she nodded, her face beaming like the sun.

There, in that inn, Chizuru and Kenji stumbled through , both inexperienced and nervous. Their bodies shook as they released their ecstasy as their souls plunged together.

Kenji did not doubt that Chizuru felt a bit ashamed for out of marriage, as did he, but as they walked away from the small town, fingers laced together, they both felt brilliant about their first time together.

Now, Chizuru looked just as beautiful and delicious as she did that night Kenji asked her to marry him, but they were in the forest, not in a private room. In the forest, anything could interrupt them during their moment of passion.

"Gomen ne, Kenji-kun, demo… we're in the forest." Chizuru repeated, feeling ashamed for not wanting to please her lover.

Kenji smiled, and nodded, helping Chizuru up into sit up position. The locus was still in the trees above them, screeching their Summer Song.

"Iie," Kenji replied brushing the bits of grass off Chizuru's clothes, not even worrying about the dirt on his own clothes. "You're right; the forest is not a place for things like that."

Chizuru gave a smile of relief, nodding her thanks to Kenji for understanding. He nodded back, watching her small hands brush the rest of the grass blades off her hamaka; the same small hands that cupped his—

"ORO!" Kenji yelped out, unexpectedly.

"Nani?"

"B-Bitsuni!" Kenji replied, his face heating up.

"There's that 'nothing' again!" Chizuru huffed, her hands finding their way back to her hips.

Kenji forced out a nervous laugh.

"Why don't I just get some fire wood," Kenji suggested, keeping his eyes fixated on the forest. "So I don't have to look for them in the dark?"

Chizuru nodded, and Kenji got up to search for firewood, numbly gathering the sticks. Deciding to take a break, he sat down beside a tree, his back resting against it as he tried to forget about the indecent bulge in his pants.

There were a few more instances after their first encounter at the inn; all of them being when they treated themselves to a room. They were just coming back from a town, in which, they slept at an inn.

The young man mentally berated himself for being so willing to lay his fiancée in the forest, of all places.

Finally, Kenji got up with the bundle of sticks in his arms, making his way back to Chizuru. When he got there, an interesting sight caught his eye.

Chizuru apparently used the river to both cool off and bathe in, and she just got out, reaching for her yukata robe.

Kenji must not have known he was being loud, because Chizuru suddenly looked up, wide brown eyes fixed on him.

"A-Ano…" Kenji exclaimed, not knowing what to do or say.

"Kenji no baka!" Chizuru yelled, picking up her purse bag next to her, and throwing it at him.

"Oro!" Kenji yelped when the purse hit him in the face. "Hey, I've seen you naked before!"

"That was different!" Chizuru yelled, pulling her yukata around her body; her face completely red. "It wasn't that bright in the room!"

Kenji shook his head, placing the purse down softly on the ground. He decided not to explain himself because he would just end up in deeper trouble; although Kenji was sure that it was unfair for him to be in trouble now.

When he looked back up, Chizuru was already wrapped tightly in her yukata; her hair back up in a ponytail with her blue ribbon tied around the black mass.

Sighing, Chizuru laid their blankets down on the green grass bank; the sun already sinking into the horizon, casting red-orange light into the stream and forest.

"Kenji-kun," Chizuru began, getting her fiancée's attention. "Where're we going to next? We've practically been all over Japan."

Kenji blinked at Chizuru, her form bathing in the last light of the rapidly disappearing sun.

"Kyoto," he replied, preparing to light the camp fire. "We haven't been to Kyoto."

"What's in Kyoto?" Chizuru asked, her eyebrows knitted in confusion.

"Dunno," Kenji answered, succeeding in lighting the camp fire, the light dancing on their forms. "We haven't been to Kyoto, and it's only a few miles away, so I figured why not go there?"

"We'd get there a lot quicker and easier if we just stay on the path."

"Bandits stay to the path."

"We don't have anything to give them, anyway." Chizuru countered with a giggle.

"They would consider you as a prize," Kenji seriously said. "And they will take you from me; after that, they'll do whatever they want with you."

"I'd like to see them try!" Chizuru said with a scowl, causing Kenji to smile proudly at her spunk.

"Indeed," Kenji exclaimed with a soft laugh. "Let's sleep so we have energy for tomorrow's journey."

Chizuru nodded, wrapping herself in the blankets to will her body into peaceful sleep, with Kenji watching over her the whole night.

OOOOOOOOOO

When Kenji and Chizuru were on their way to Kyoto, they both made sure they packed enough water in their containers to last them as least until they got to the city.

It was yet another humid day and the sun beamed down at them without mercy. Chizuru decided to, once again, pull her hair up in a high ponytail, tying it off with her blue ribbon.

Unfortunately, the pair was going through a lot of thick shrubbery that slowed them up. Kenji wished that he had something to hack away at the thick blushes and shrubs; it was then that he looked at his father's sakabatou in his hand.

Shaking his head, Kenji decided not to use the sword. It had not come out of its clothed covering since after Yahiko gave it to him; he was not about to take it out now.

Suddenly, Kenji heard a thump sound behind him, like something fairly heavy falling to the ground, and he heard Chizuru cry out.

"Itai!"

Turning around faster than anyone could anticipate, Kenji quickly moved to Chizuru's side, finding her buried in the thick shrubbery.

"Chizuru, daijoubu ka?" Kenji asked desperately, trying to help her up.

"Hai, I'm fine, except my ankle…" Chizuru trailed off, wincing in pain as she tried to move her leg.

Kenji leaned over, trying to push the thick bushes away so he could tend to his fiancée's hurt ankle.

He found it, tangled in some uproots; he slowly and carefully untangled her ankle, wincing when he heard her cry out in pain.

"Do you think it's broken?" Chizuru asked, looking at her unmoving ankle, save for an involuntary twitch.

"Iie, I think it's just sprained." Kenji replied, gently touching the swollen area, causing Chizuru to wince. "But I think we should take you to a doctor when we get to Kyoto."

Chizuru nodded once, and she tried to get to her feet, but just the tiniest bit of pressure on her ankle caused her to almost collapse.

"Chizuru!" Kenji cried out in full concern, catching her before she fell flat on her face again.

"I don't think I can walk… oh, Kenji-kun, gomen nasai!"

"Don't worry about it; I'll just carry you."

Kenji allowed Chizuru to climb on to his back as he locked his elbows with the back of her knees for a back ride. It was quite a challenge to carry everything, plus his woman, but he finally found a balance.

Chizuru was surprisingly light, despite the heavy sound of her body falling to the ground. It was the items they carried that Kenji found to be troublesome.

Kenji walked through the bushes, trying to push them aside so they did not get caught on Chizuru's hurt ankle, causing her more pain.

Finally, they came to a clearing and that clearing was the main path to Kyoto. Relieved that they would soon be there, Kenji allowed himself to sigh, also wondering how the citizens would react to a young man carrying a young woman on his back.

Shrugging the thought away, Kenji moved Chizuru higher up on his back so she would not be hanging by her knees. He started walking in the south direction, his navigation instinct very strong in his senses.

Then, something else caught his senses; the strong feeling in the pit of his stomach caused Kenji to stop in his steps, his body absolutely still.

Kenji's swordsman instinct was starting to come alive, growing from the bottom of his stomach and working its way through his body; they were being watched, measured up for size.

"What's wrong—"

"Shh!" Kenji hushed his fiancée rather harshly, and he made a quick mental note to apologize later.

The young man's hearing increased, causing him to hear the slightest sound, from the squirrels scampering on the ground, to the stream that flowed just a couple of feet away.

It was eerily quiet; not the comfortable silence, but the silence just before the out break of a very violent storm.

Then, Kenji heard it; the sound of a soft whistling, like something whizzing through the air, and he quickly dropped Chizuru.

He did not calmly put her down, he dropped her like she suddenly stung him, and he heard her cry out in pain, not only from her ankle, but from landing on her back.

"Hey!" Chizuru cried out, getting ready to give him the yelling session of his life. "Kenji—"

Chizuru was suddenly cut off when the thing that was flying through the air whooshed past Kenji's back, slicing through the air where she would have been, and embedded itself in the trunk of a tree.

Chizuru stared at the dagger in the tree with her jaw dropped, knowing that blade had her name written all over it.

She looked back at Kenji, who had the sakabatou clenched in his fist, eyes narrowing in the direction the dagger came from.

Making quite a racket, three men came out of the clearing, weapons ready, and grinning cruelly at the young man.

When their eyes rested on Chizuru, their eyes were doused in lust and wanting, making them lick their dry lips with their nasty tongues. They grinned lustfully towards the young woman, their rotten teeth exposed.

Kenji looked at each of the men; the first man was short and thin, wearing worn out, faded clothes, and baring a club weapon in his hand. The second man was medium built with squinty eyes and a bald head, held daggers in his hands, and Kenji assumed it was the one who threw the first dagger at Chizuru.

The third man was a tall brute that held a long, huge bladed ax in both hands, with huge, bulky muscles filling out his arms and legs.

Kenji made a quick glance at Chizuru, saw she was still on the ground, and he knew it would be hard to fight off three men while protecting his woman.

He did not have a choice; he would have to draw out his father's sakabatou.

Kenji quickly opened the cloth covering the sword, cast it aside, and unsheathed the blade.

The blade reflected the sunlight on it; the light gleamed down the silver blade, untainted with blood. Kenji placed the sheath through his gi's belt.

The three men tensed, waiting for the young man to attack. Kenji looked at each man, then up towards the sky a bit. He moved his blade so the sunlight reflected off of it.

The light did, and it blinded the three men, causing them to become distracted, if only for a few minutes.

A few minutes was all Kenji needed.

The young man swung the blunt edge of the sword, and struck the first man on the back of his neck, rendering him to unconsciousness.

The third man came forward, swinging his huge ax at the redhead, however, due to the massive size the barbarian carried, it slowed him up. Kenji was able to use the god-like speed he learned during his short training of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu to dodge every swing the man made.

The huge man finally came to a venerable point, which Kenji was about to take advantage of. However, the second man, that the redhead swordsman made the grave mistake of forgetting about, threw a dagger into Kenji's side.

Kenji cried out in pain and surprise, almost causing him to drop the sakabatou. He pulled the blade out of his side; sharp pain flowed through his body, trembling through his nerves, and down his spine.

"Kenji-kun!" Chizuru yelled, trying to get to her feet, instinct telling her to rush to his side.

"Stay there, Chizuru!" Kenji yelled at his girl. "Don't you dare move!"

Chizuru obeyed, yet looked ready to rush to him at any given moment.

The second man threw another dagger at Kenji, but the swordsman dodged it, allowing the blade to imbed itself in the tree behind him.

Kenji's side was bleeding and raw with pain, which made his movements that much more difficult.

The third, huge man swung his bulking ax at Kenji again, to which the young man drew up his blade just in time to block the attack. Yet, the force of the ax sent him backwards, and Kenji would have fell to the ground, in a venerable position, had he not been stopped by a tree.

The force of hitting the tree created more pain for Kenji as he held one hand to his wounded side, trying to slow down the bleeding.

The man swung his ax at the young man again, and Kenji dodged it, allowing the ax's blade to slice through the tree's bark behind him, causing the weapon to stick in the sticky sap.

Now at a venerable point again, Kenji swung the sakabatou at the brute, only, again, the second man came at the redhead, his daggers ready for the aim.

Kenji swung the blunt blade at the man's wrists, and the man cried out in pain, dropping his daggers to the ground. The man's hands twitched, unable to grip anything.

Suddenly, a female's cry echoed through the trees, and Kenji quickly forgot about the second man, and looked towards Chizuru's direction.

The third man, with the ax blade, grabbed Chizuru, threw her over his shoulder like a sack of rice, and motioned for his comrade.

"We have the girl, Chon!" The man yelled to the second man, motioning with his hand to follow him. "Ikazu!"

"Kenji-kun!" Chizuru yelled, her arms held out for him to save her, and the brute quickly covered the girl's mouth.

Chizuru began to pound her fists angrily on the huge man; however, it was in vein.

The second man followed, but so did Kenji, two men running through the trees as a shorter, younger man followed in pursuit.

Suddenly, something hit Kenji's back rather roughly, causing him to fall to the ground, not able to breathe.

Standing above him, was the first man he knocked out with his first attack. The club weapon he bared when facing off against Kenji was in his hands.

"Shon! Come on!" Kenji heard a voice he did not recognize.

The man with the club, Shon, glared at Kenji and then ran in the direction the two men were running to; the two men who had Chizuru.

"Chizuru!" Kenji shouted, forcing himself to his feet, and he hobbled down the path the men were heading down.

"Are you alright?" a female voice asked, coming from the direction behind him.

"Chizu…ru…" Kenji replied, trying to see the person behind him, but he only saw an extremely blurry form.

From what he could tell, the female had black hair, and was wearing some sort of blue clothing; she was fairly short and small, and she had blue-green eyes.

"Are you alright?" the female repeated, placing her small hands on the young man's shoulders. "What's your name, boy?"

"Chizuru…" was all Kenji could say before his vision darkened, and he slumped into the female's arms, marveling at how soft she felt.

OOOOOOOOO

AN: Hello! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter to my first Rurouni Kenshin fan story! I always wanted to do a Kenshin fan fic, but I never got an idea... until now. Please, please, please review; just one little review is enough to make me continue writing!


End file.
